6 Tragicomedy Examples That Will Elevate Your Writing (+ Examples)

I will also introduce you to a brief history of the literary device and show how authors use tragicomedy to capture the paradoxical nature of humanity.

And I hope that by the end of this post, you’ll know that it’s okay to be a commitment phobe when it comes to choosing a genre for your next piece.

If tragedy is too dark and comedy too light, dance with both and write a tragicomedy.

You don’t have to follow any rules but yourself.

After all, it is known that real life is bitter and beautiful, appropriate and funny.

Let’s start!

Definition and history of tragicomedy

Not serious a literary devicetragicomedy is a genre of literature that contains tragic and comic elements.

Tragedy, the contemplative parent of tragicomedy, is known for its tense nature and devastating ending. It follows a flawed, over-the-top hero who lets his evil character flaw ruin his life.

Comedy, the cool parent of tragicomedy, is all fun and games. It involves mistaken identities, possibly cross-dressing, and always a love story.

Tragedies end in death; comedy in marriage.

Tragicomedy thus combines the serious and the silly.

It is as if the literary device comic relief is spread throughout the entire piece.

Renaissance Revival: Tragicomedy in Italy

Tragicomedy was created by the comic Roman dramatist Plauton.

But it was two Italian Renaissance thinkers and writers who cultivated it, Giovanni Battista Girardi Cinthio and Giovanni Battista Guarini.

Cintho did this by venturing into a new genre based on Roman (not Greek) comedies and tragedies. He believed that tragedies with a happy ending were better suited for the stage, while tragedies with a sad ending were better read.

Cintho’s tragicomedy allows normally comedic characters such as commoners and scoundrels to experience tragedy rather than royalty, along with a happy ending.

At the end of that century came Guarini’s controversial tragicomedy makeup. His tragicomedies are pastoral in nature, contain neither too tragic nor too comedic scenes, and have well-mannered characters. These aspects have remained in the genre for over a century.

Tragicomedy in England

Across the pond in England, Philip Sidney deplored the rise of tragicomedy in the 1580s, calling it “mungrel,” and he didn’t mean it in a good way.

“Seneca cannot be too heavy, Plautus too light,” said William Shakespeare through Polonius.

Take that Sydney.

In 1608, John Fletcher adapted one of Guarini’s plays and added his own definition to the term:

“Genre is defined by whether or not there is death.”

Tragicomedy only approaches death.

But William Shakespeare (shocker) creates several outstanding examples of tragicomedy. Merchant of Venice, A winter’s taleand his last game, A storm.

3 Tragicomedy examples from the theater

The evolution of the theater from the rigid forms of classical tragedy and comedy to the hybrid of tragicomedy has occurred as a result of our own cultural evolution.

As humanity has changed, so has our appetite for entertainment.

Our entertainment of choice has also evolved from stage to screen, but as we dive into examples of tragicomedy, let’s first look at some notable stage productions…

Merchant of Venice

While some may call this play a “problem play” or a “romantic comedy,” others will classify it as a tragicomedy.

First, the tragic element.

The plot centers around the ruin of the Jewish Monylenderer Shylock. He fulfills the classic requirements of a tragic hero: he is prosperous, has a character flaw (materialism), and he allows this flaw to destroy his relationships.

At the end of the play, he is publicly humiliated and forced to renounce his faith or his wealth.

The so-called Christians in the play are not pretending to be a bit tougher for the sake of comedy, ergo tragicomedy.

But we see the hard side of Shylock, who demands payment in “a pound of flesh” and some of us appreciate his punishment, even if it is too severe.

In terms of comedy, the play contains scenes of debauchery (see Shylock as a buffalo and Lancelot as a clown), witty dialogue, disguises and cross-dressing.

There are plot twists, broken up lovers, family drama and drama and of course marriage. Almost everyone in a couple reunites and gets married.

It’s a tragedy for Shylock (and probably Antonio), a comedy for everyone else.

Marriage a la mode

John Dryden’s 1672s Marrying La Modeor A Fashionable Marriage presents the audience with three “love” relationships and asks which ideal.

The first relationship is the most serious, it is explained with heroic couplets, so it sounds serious. It centers around Palmyra, the usurper’s daughter and current princess of Sicily, and Leonidas, the rightful heir. Their upcoming wedding will heal Sicily from the pain caused by Palmyra’s father. This is the essence of tragedy.

The second love story is the main source of comedy in the play.

It’s a love scene between Mr. Rhodophilus and Mrs. Doralis and the betrothed couple Melanthe and her jealous groom Palamede, a bored but inside couple.

To cut the long game short, Rhodophilus wants Melanthe, while Palamede thinks Doralis is too attractive.

Needless to say, things get messy, the couples get confused, and shockingly, both couples decide to stay where they started.

Maybe true love can endure anything.

Waiting for Godot

It was written by Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett in 1949. Waiting for Godot shatters the dramatic form by openly rejecting their harsh demands.

Beckett’s play explores existentialism, basically the idea that nothing is certain except death and your experiences, and that the only way to live fully is to accept that truth and move on.

Tragic, huh?

But where is the laughter that tragicomedy promises?

The plot involves protagonists Didi and Gogo waiting for, you guessed it, their no-show friend or god figure Godot (see God there?).

They spend the entire game waiting for this guy because they can’t (or won’t) accept the fact that they don’t actually have to wait for him. And they plan to wait for him again the next day.

Isn’t the definition of insanity expecting a different result when you do the same thing over and over again?

Hmmm.

They are joined by Lucky and Ponzo, (human-pet?) and his master. The four continue to do nothing.

Act 2 is a repeat of Act 1, only now Lucky is mute and Ponzo is deaf. The plot and characters literally go nowhere as a deeply depressing depiction of human existence.

“Go!” as they followed Didi and Gogo. you want to scream.

Likewise, part of you wants to yell at yourself, “Go away! This is lame!”

But Beckett fascinates us; we see ourselves in Didi and Godot and their decision to stay and stay and stay.

3 Tragicomedy examples from the movie

As cinema’s brilliant cousin, we must watch tragicomedy on the big screen.

Tragicomedy is a popular genre for screenwriters, probably for the same reasons the Guarinis, Shakespeares and Becketts of the world loved it on stage.

Tragicomedy is how we get out of life’s difficulties.

So let’s dive in.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

One of the Coen Brothers’ biggest hits was 2000’s “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” is a movie.

Set in the American South during the Great Depression, three convicts escape from a chain gang and set out to find a treasure promised by one of them.

George Clooney stars as Ulysses (yes, the same Odysseus from 9th grade English), a charming convict who convinces the O’chain brothers Delmar and Pete to risk death and escape in hopes of getting rich quick.

Their journey, modeled after a 9th grade text The Odysseyfilled with exaggerated characters from the classic hero’s journey. There are many funny things: Ulysses Dapper Dan is obsessed with hair pomade, Delmar turns into a frog, and John Goodman is a cyclopean politician.

Wait, what?

But where is the tragic part of this example of tragicomedy?

There is no treasure. Ulysses is a liar and the father of many daughters. All this was a ploy to prevent his wife from remarrying. A sad scene from the movie Great Depression and a cell of the KKK are also involved in the tragic scale.

And it works.

Comedy.

But alas for Delamar and Pete.

And poor Penny, played hard by Holly Hunter, deserves better than Ulysses.

Tragedy.

Juno

2007 film by Jason Reitman, screenplay by Diablo Cody, Juno It’s a romantic tragicomedy that follows the bildungsroman of pregnant teenager Juno, played by Elliot Page.

(But before we go on, we must pause and wonder. Why? Because the first two film examples have Greco-Roman allusions. Just as Ulysses is the Roman name for Odysseus, so is the Roman name for Hera, queen of Olympus and goddess of marriage, women and family, Juno.)

Back to the movie, Juno’s first and lackluster sex with her BFF Paulie results in a pregnancy.

Tragedy.

He walks away from Paulie.

Tragedy.

She is considering an abortion.

Tragedy.

She chooses adoption, which is not tragic but also comedic, and goes to find the perfect parents for her baby in the local Pennysaver.

Comedy. He finds them. Comedy square.

But things are not as they seem. Spoiler?

Kind of.

Like traditional comedies, there are mistaken identities. The adoptive father is not what he seems, the mother is better than she first appears, and Juno is actually in love with her baby’s biological father.

Great, huh?

A happy ending? Tragicomedy anyone?

A close, happy neighbor.

Let’s just say that good people are rewarded and leave it at that.

Big Fish

Our last example of a modern tragicomedy is a 2003 film Big Fishdirected by Tim Burton and based on the novel by Daniel Wallace.

The theme of this film is clearly tragic, the reconciliation of a dying father and son, as told through a series of fantastical vignettes surrounding the life of Will Bloom (the son).

Worried about his father’s need for attention and his outrageous stories, Will and Edward grow apart.

Tragedy.

As the cancer progresses, Will returns home both to say goodbye to his father and to find the real man in the fantasy stories of Will’s childhood.

He tells his father’s stories to his new wife, to Edward as he fades away, and finally to his own young son from where he is admitted.

Tragedy, Tragedy, Comedy.

Because there is a baby.

There are witches, giants, circuses, monsters and conjoined twins.

Comedy, comedy, comedy.

They all become regular people enriched by Edward’s presence in their lives.

Tragicomedy.

Examples of Tragicomedy, Where Can It Take You?

Now you understand the nuances between tragedy, comedy and their hybrid derivative tragicomedy.

So what?

So what?

Take the wisdom those writers saw in form use it for your own post.

As a writer, you are not beholden to anyone. Don’t let strict definitions of genres stifle your creativity.

Write what you want to write.

Engage with tragicomedy and see if its truth, pain and beauty, pain and pleasure, match yours.

Happy writing!